Bnme  Bones  Xacfce^ 


[From  Missionary  Tidings,  November,  1898.] 

Annie  Agnes  Lackey  was  born  near  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Ark.,  in  1874,  so  is  in  very  truth  a  twin  to 
the  C.  W.  B.  M. 

She  comes  of  one  of  Arkansas’  leading  fami¬ 
lies.  Her  father,  a  native  of  Virginia,  was 
raised  in  the  same  county  as  Stonewall  Jack- 
son.  His  wife,  a  Miss.Sherry,  is  a  member  of 
a  family  noted  for  piety,  her  father  having  been 
a  charter  member  of  the  first  Church  of  Christ 
established  in  that  part  of  the  country.  She 
was  brought  up  under  the  tuition  of  Brother 
Robert  Graham,  for  fourteen  years  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Fayetteville. 

The  family  lived  in  the  country  when  Annie 
was  a  little  girl,  and  even  then  she  heard  God’s 
voice,  and  an  intense  longing  to  help  uplift  hu¬ 
manity  became  the  burden  of  her  life;  and  here, 
in  her  quiet  rural  home,  she  prayed  continually 
that  the  opportunity  of  an  education  might 
come  to  her,  to  enable  her  to  carry  out  her  de¬ 
sire.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  she  removed  with 
the  family  into  Fayetteville,  and  entered  the 
public  schools  of  that  city,  and  here  came  un¬ 
der  the  influence  of  N.  M.  Ragland,  pastor  of 
First  Church,  and  has  found  in  him  a  constant 
help  and  counselor. 

After  leaving  the  public  schools  she  entered 
the  State  University  of  Arkansas,  an  institu¬ 
tion  that  is  the  equal  of  any  similar  one  in  the 
country.  Her  character  is  serious  and  stu¬ 
dious,  and  she  always  held  a  high  place  in  her 
classes,  as  well  as  in  the  hearts  of  professors 
and  fellow-students.  During  all  these  years 
she  had  never  forgotten  or  lost  sight  of  4[er 
childish  desire,  and,  while  in  college,  having 


learned  of  the  great  needs  in  the  foreign  field, 
decided  to  devote  her  life  to  it,  and  to  that  end 
made  a  special  study  of  the  languages.  In  this 
she  had  the  counsel  of  Brother  Ragland,  who, 
constantly  and  prayerfully,  guided  her,  step  by 
step,  toward  her  goal.  In  the  fall  of  ’97  she 
offered  herself  to  the  Foreign  Christian  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society,  but  failing  to  gain  the  full  and 
free  consent  of  her  loved  ones  to  go,  decided  to 
wait  another  year.  During  this  year  our  Olivia 
A.  Baldwin  visited  the  family  and  they  learned 
to  love  and  trust  her,  and  consented  to  let  their 
daughter  go  to  India,  provided  she  could  go 
in  Miss  Baldwin’s  company.  This  fact  was 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Christian 
Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  and  she  was  asked 
to  go  to  India  with  Miss  Baldwin,  to  work  with 
her  at  Deoghur  for  our  Board. 

She  goes  forth  splendidly  equipped.  She  is 
one  of  the  best  educated  girls  ever  sent  to  the 
foreign  field.  She  has  studied,  systematically, 
the  world’s  leading  works  on  missions.  She 
has  been  for  several  years  a  successful  Bible 
school  teacher  in  her  church  school,  and  her 
good  influence  is  testified  to  by  the  fact  that 
nearly  all  her  class,  boys  just  entering  young 
manhood,  have  confessed  their  faith  in  Jesus. 
She  is  a  valuable  Christian  Endeavor  worker, 
having  been  chairman  of  the  Prayer-meeting 
Committee  for  two  years.  She  is  also  an  active 
worker  in  the  C.  W  B.  M.  She  is  a  young 
woman  of  blameless  life,  and  of  high  and  noble 
purposes.  The  testimony  of  her  pastor  is,  “She 
is  the  best  gift  we  can  make  to  God.” 

St.  Louis,  Mo.  Mrs.  L.  G.  Bantz. 


Published  by  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of  Mis¬ 
sions,  152  E.  Market  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  March,  1900. 
One  cent  each  ;  fiye  cents  per  dozen. 


